panther4life's Activity

In a continued attempt to have some meaningful, somewhat fresh football conversation I decided to take a look at how our roster has changed since Hurney left and what Gettleman has been able to do while playing the card's he was dealt. Below is a list of holdovers from the roster when Hurney was terminated in October of 2012.QB Cam Newton, Derek AndersonRunning Backs Jonathan Stewart, Mike TolbertWide Receivers NoneTight Ends Greg Olsen, Richie BrockelOffensive Lineman Ryan Kalil, Amini Silatolu and Garry Williams(maybe)Defensive Ends Charles Johnson, Frank AlexanderDefensive Tackles Dwan EdwardsLinebackers Luke Keuchly, Thomas Davis Corners Josh NormanSafeties Colin JonesSpecialist Nortman, J.J JansenThat's 18 remaining out of a possible 53 and stands a chance to be reduced down to 16(if Brockel and Garry Williams get cut). Now we all know the cap hell Hurney left behind. **Also should be noted that Bersin, Lester(off and on anyway) and Nate Chandler while never on the active roster under Hurney were practice squad carry over's from his tenure. So if they make it that takes the total up to 20-22.Since then Gman has had to wade his way through the cap hell and try to rebuild this team with bargain free agents, draft picks ( minus the 2013 3rd rounder Hurney gave up in 12 to grab Frank Alexander in the 4th round in the 2012 draft) and retain the core players through extensions (i.e Cam, Davis, Olsen).Personally I was not impressed with our final 53 heading into last year, with major concerns in the secondary, Offensive line and lack of weapons at WR. Again this is just as much Hurney's fault if not more than G'mans for the position he left him in. Now thats all in the past. We have a healthy cap and one of the best potential rosters in years. Added via the draft by Gettleman2013: Star, Short,Kugbila, Klein, and Barner2014: Benjamin, Ealy, Turner, Boston, Benwikere, Gaffney2015: Thompson, Funchess, Daryl Williams, Mayo and Artis-PayneThat adds 12 More assuming they all make it this year. This brings the total players almost certain to be on the roster from Hurney's era + Gman's drafts up to 31 with a chance of to up to 33. The rest of our roster has been made up of free agent additions undrafted and unrestricted. The best of that bunch in my opinion are as follows(Due to sheer math not all will make the final 53):QB Joe WebbRB Fozzy Whitaker, Jordan ToddmanWR. Ginn,Brown, Cotchery and Hill. (I think only 3 of these names make the final cut and in the order I put and possibly only 2 of Bersin sticks.).T.E Ed Dickson, Brandon WilliamsOffensive Line Norwell,Rimmers, Oher, Martin, Chris Scott, FocaultDefensive Line Mario Addison, Wes HortonLinebackers Adarius GlantonCorners Tillman, White, Houston, Teddy WilliamsS. Harper, Coleman, Ball, LesterK. Gano

I truly only miss 4 departed players from the roster at the time of Hurney being fired: Gross, Smith, Gamble and Wharton (3 of which have retired and Smitty is knocking on that door too). Other familiar names on the huddle t that are gone but not sorely missed include. Beason, Deangelo, Lafell,Hardy,James Anderson, Godfrey and Captain. So to recap the current roster roughly has 8 starters left over from 2012 and and another 8-10 in decent backups a Punter and Long snapper remaining since Hurney was let go in October 2012. Aside from having no cap space Hurney left us stuck with major holes on the 0-line, defensive tackle and the secondary. Gettleman fixed the DT position in year 1 and has addressed the WR problem in the last 2 drafts. The offensive line and secondary still need a lot of work but at least we are slowly seeing improvement and maybe just maybe we have seen enough to give us a shot at a deep playoff run this year.

Heres my take on the power rankings of our 2015 opponents. In parentheses you will see their 14 regular season records.

1.Packers (12-4 in) The packers rarely add any outside talent via free agency, opting to keep their own homegrown talent instead. This offseason was no different. They did lose their best Corner in Tramon Williams to the Browns. Other notable departures were A.J Hawk to the Bengals and corner Devon House to the Jaguars. They immediately turned to the draft to replenish their corner depth selecting 2 corners with their first 2 picks. Damorius Randall 30th overall and and Quinten Rollins 62nd overall. 2. Colts (11-5)Andre Johnson, T.Y Hilton, Donte Moncrief and rookie Phillip Dorsett give Luck one of the best overall receiving corps in the league, plus he has tight ends Colby Fleener and Dwayne Allen .In addition the offense gained a new back in Frank Gore.They also poached the Eagles for 2 longtime starters. DE Trent Cole so that should boost their pass rush and keeping their D good enough to win combined with their explosive offense that also added former Eagles guard Todd Herramans. 3.Seahawks(12-4) Other than giving up their pro bowl center and 1st round pick for Jimmy Graham the Seahawks had a pretty quiet offseason. Graham no doubt is a huge weapon added to the arsenal for Wilson, one must wonder who's going to pave the way up the middle for Beast mode next year. The only other newsworthy transaction was losing corner Byron Maxwell to the Eagles who paid him all the money and while they were at it they decided to sign away another former Seahawks corner Walter Thurmond III(spent last year with the Giants). One other thing to keep in mind is they have lost their 2nd defensive coordinator to a head coaching position in the last 3 years. They promoted their secondary coach but this will be his first year calling plays. 4.Cowboys (12-4)The biggest question surrounding the Cowboys performance on the field this year is how much impact will losing Demarco Murray have? League wide consensus is they have one of the elite offensive lines in the NFL and were able to add to it by snagging La'el Collins late in the draft as well. So losing Murray will have an impact but having the nice o-line along with the addition of Mcfadden should lessen the blow some. There Defense was never very scary to begin with but losing Mcclain for the first 4 games and not knowing when Hardy will be available only adds to the questions about how this unit. That being said I believe they are still the top dogs in the NFC East with Philly possibly taking over this year. 5. Eagles (10-6)I am still puzzled by the Foles for Bradford trade but Chip Kelly likely has something up his sleeve. Losing Mccoy was a wash after Acquring Demarco Murray in free agency. They actually have one of the best backfields now with Murray, Ryan Matthews and Sproles. Kiko Alonso also looked like a damn good MLB before getting hurt last year so if he comes back and plays like he did his rookie year that will have been a solid move. I do wonder how long it will take for their new look offense to come together and how successful it will be.Gone is top receiver Jeremy Maclin (over 1300 yards and 10 TD's last year). So that means new QB, new RB, and new # 1 WR. They have Jordan Matthews who will be a 2nd year player, Riley Cooper and they invested their first round pick in Nelson Agohlar. Their offensive line is the only thing that remains fairly intact minus Evan Mathis and Todd Heremmans who lost is starting spot in the 2nd half of the season. On Defense they went all in paying from Seahawks corner Byron Maxwell to a 6 year 63/milion deal with 25 of it guaranteed. Other notable turnover was as mentioned Earlier Trent Cole being released and signing with the Colts.6. Falcons (6-10)The Falcons quietly improved themselves quite a bit this offseason. Starting with the new Coach Dan Quinn. Followed by an excellent draft. They added a nice pash rusher in Beasley, got a very good running back to replace Stephen Jackson in Telvin Coleman and also picked up what should be an instant starter at Corner (Jalen Collins) opposite of Desmond Trufant. The best free agent addition was likely DE Adrian Clayborn from the Bucs. They likely found another D starter in LB Brooks Reed from the Texans.Their offensive line saw some new additions. They released 2 lineman in Tackle Sam Baker and Guard Justin Blalock. They replace them with 2 vets in T Tyler Polumbus and G Chris Chester. They will also get their Center Joe Hawley back who went on injured reserve early in the season and if they are lucky last years first round pick Jake Matthews will start to show signs of being a franchise LT this year.7. Saints (7-9) Trading away Jimmy Graham was music to the ears every Panther, Falcon and Bucs fan. They still have his backup Benjamin Watson who has been a starter before but the drop off in talent is huge. This wasn't the only blow to the saints offense either. Kenny Stills who caught 85 catches for 931 yards and 3 TD's was traded to the Dolphins for LB Darnell Ellerbe and a 3rd round pick. They also decided to let RB Pierre Thomas go as well but found a nice upgrade in C.J spiller via free agency. They did do a lot of work to improve their offensive line a good bit by adding Andrus Peat and acquiring Center Max Unger in the Graham trade. They have a brand new LB Corps with Ellerbe, Anthony Spencer(from the Cowboys) and David Hawthorne from the Seahawks. Additionally they added more in the 1st and 2nd round of the draft as well. Gallette remains as the only starter from last season in their 3-4 scheme. The D should also see improvement as Vaccaro has another year under his belt,last years big ticket free agent addition Jairus Byrd may actually stay healthy this year and Brandon Browner comes on board at CB. 8. Giants (6-10)Well they have a franchise QB in Eli. They've got a trio nice weapons at receiver in Beckham Jr, Victor Cruz and Reubin Randle. They have some young talent on the o-line. On defense they had a good pass rusher in JPP but who knows when he will return. Of course they have Beason manning the middle with Jonathan Hankins in front of him at DT and were able to acquire Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie in free agency and picked the best safety prospect in the draft (Landon Collins).They have no major threats at running back and the rest of the team seems to be a big question mark. These guys aren't the threat they once were and quite frankly I heard on NFL radio today they've only made the playoffs once in the last 6 years (last appearance was in 2011 where they dethroned the undefeated patriots after only amassing 9 regular season wins themselves that year)9. Redskins (4-12)At this point its hard to pick who deserves to be next. I am going with the Skins. RG 3 has something to prove. Is he a bust or can he regain some of his magic from his rookie season before suffering the injury. He's got a decent supporting cast with Desean Jackson and Pierre Garcon on the outside and Alfred Morris toting the rock( been a 1k yard rusher all 3 years in the league)and okay T.E in Jordan Reed. He has one of the best LT's in the game in Trent Williams. They also finally had a 1st round pick again and took Brandon Scherff 5th overall to help solidify their offensive line. Their defense quietly saw a major overhaul this offseason but that doesn't look like it will guarantee much positive results. Added were d-line vets Stephen Pea(Bears),Terrence Knighton(Broncos),Jason Hatcher (Cowboys), Safties Duke Ihenaco(Broncos), Dashon Goldson(Bucs) and corner Chris Culliver(Niners).10. Bucs (2-14) Some may ask how I can rank the league's worst team last year as our 10th next opponent, but the Bucs do have some talent in place and potentially a franchise QB now. Plus look at the rest of the list and that'll add some justification. They have their own pair of productive twin towers in V-Jax and Mike Evans. A young TE with some potential in Austin Sefari-Jenkins and a very talented running back in Doug Martin. They have some solid defensive pieces in place in Gerald Mccoy,Lavante David and Jonathan Banks. They also picked up DE George Johnson from the lions to try and fill the void left by Adrian Clayborn( who was injured pretty much the whole year anyway). Also should be noted they hope to have found a Tackle to protect Jameis in 2nd round pick Donnvan Smith.11. Texans (9-7) The Texans don't have an established QB (Hoyer or Mallett will end up being the guy in that order of likelines). Andre Johnson is getting older and wanted out so they let him go. They do have Deandre Hopkins, rookie Jalen Strong and Arian Foster returning at running back.From what I can tell just an okay offensive line if that. No TE worth a damn. Now for the positives. J.J Watt, newly acquired man eater Vince Wilfork, Clowney, Cushing and Jonthan Joseph. Theres a few other names such as Whitney Mercilus, Kareem Jackson and Rahim Moore(from the broncos) that round out to a pretty decent D on paper. I just don't believe that D is enough to balance out the lack of weapons on offense to make this team a feared opponent. Yes they went 9-7 last year but lets see who they Beat. 4 wins thanks the 2 poo teams ranked right below them here. The Skins, Raiders, Browns (with their new QB Hoyer starting for the browns). The 2 teams they beat with winning records were the Bills and Ravens. Also lets not forget they were 2-14 the year before with a very similar roster. I just think last year was an aberration but we shall see.12. Jaguars (3-13) Bortles is a work in progress. Hopefully for Jag''s fans the progress will continue vs going the other direction. He has some young weapons to grow with him in Alan Hurns, Marqise Lee and Allen Robinson at receiver. They front office also did him a solid in acquiring former Bronco T.E Julius Thomas to pair with Marcedes Lewis. He's got his blindside protector in Jockel, they picked up a couple of other vets to go on the o-line in G Zane Beadles(Bronco's) and T Jeremy Parnell (Cowboys) The defense needs a lot work and to their credit they tried in free agency. Picking Odrick(Dolphins)Sen'derick Marks(Titans) and Davion House(Packers). As any football fan can tell this isn't likely to be enough.13. Titans (2-14)Not much to talk about here. Hopefully for them Mariota can develop into a franchise QB, however this team needs a lot of upgrades before they going anywhere.

Courtesy of this link from panthers .com here is a list of last years final 53. http://www.panthers.com/news/article-2/Breaking-down-the-53-man-roster/f8b6396f-4ac3-4bc5-b3d3-97deec514f5aI have added my own commentary below the player names on the favorites to replace them assuming we allot the same amount of players per position again.QUARTERBACKS (3): Newton, Anderson, WebbThis unit remains the same. As of right now there is not a 4th arm signed up for training camp.

RUNNING BACKS (4): Williams, Stewart, Tolbert , Fozzy Whittaker

Deangelo Williams is gone. Most likely candidate to replace him is 5th round pick Cameron Artis-Payne.Other contenders include Jordan Todman who signed as unrestricted free agent, Darrin Reaves is a carry over from last years practice squad and Brandon Weghman was added as a undrafted free agent.

WIDE RECEIVERS (5): Benjamin, Cotchery, Avant, Bersin, Philly BrownAvant is gone and the obvious replacement here is 2nd Round pick Devon Funchess. Ginn was also brought back to handle punt returns and played good enough as a receiver here 2 years ago that I would deem him a near lock to make the cut this year. I feel confident based off last years production that in addition to Benjamin, Brown is likely a lock as well. Giving us 4 total for sure in Benjamin,Funchess, Brown, and Ginn. The final spot will be competed for by Cotchery, Bersin, the following 2 free agent addition's who had productive years in 2013 Brandon Boykin(681 yards 3 TD's in 13 with Green Bay), Mike Brown( had 446 yards and 2 TD's for the Jags in 13) and the following practice squad carry overs; Stephen Hill, Demario Pressley, and Marcus Lucas.That easily makes this one of the more intense and fun upcoming training camp/preseason battles to watch.

TIGHT ENDS (4): Olsen, Dickson, Brockel, Brandon WilliamsOnly 2 players were brought in to compete for a spot here. Both appear to be major underdog's. Jamie Childers and Scott Simonson. If any change is made here I suspect it will be in the number that we keep, not in the names we keep.

OFFENSIVE LINEMEN (10): Kalil, Silatolu, Turner, Bell, Chandler , Garry WIlliams , Velasco, Folkert , Andrew Norwell, Focault.Bell, Williams and Velasco are all gone. Oher will replace Bell. Mike Remmers was added midseason last year and started 5 games at RT. He is also back. We invested a 4th round pick in in Daryl Williams so it's somewhat safe to assume he should make the cut as well. We all know Jonathan Martin was picked up off waivers from the niners. . Guard Chris Scott who did not originally make the initial 53 but was added later is still on the roster as well. Practice squad carry over from last year Tackle Martin Wallace is still on the team for now. 3 other obscure names have also been added for competition.Guard Tyrone Green, Spent 4 years and accumulated 13 starts from 09 -12 with the Chargers. Was out of football the last 2 seasons. Guard Jordan Mccray, spent time last year with the Packers practice squad as an undrafted free agent. 3Guard Ricky Henry, practice squad guy since 2011 who's never seen live action in regular seasonBottom line this still not a promising bunch, but seems it has to be improved from last year. A couple good battles for starting spots should take place at LG and RT.LT- appears to be all but Oher's.LG- Could go back to Silatolu unless Norwell beats him out, Center is Kalil's, RG- belongs to Turner,RT should be between Rimmers, Martin, Chandler, and the Rookie Williams.

DEFENSIVE ENDS (5): Johnson, Hardy, Ealy, Addison, HortonHardy is obviously gone. LE belongs to Johnson. However the battle for RE appears to be wide open between Alexander(was suspended first 4 games last year) Ealy, Addison and Horton. Those names give us 5 again, with Alexander taking Hardy's vacancy.We added 3 other names (below) to compete but I don't see it likely that they beat out the above names for a spot. Rakim Cox, Arthur Miley (undrafted free agent) Steve Miller (undrafted free agent)

DEFENSIVE TACKLES (4): Lotuleli, Short, Cole, Edwards Assuming we keep 4 again, I don't see anyone unseating them. That being said heres the 3 bodies we added that are going to try.Chas Alexich(spent last year on Steelers practice squad), Kyle Love( Journeymen since 2010),Terry Redden(undrafted F.A) Micanor Regis(former p.s player for Falcons in 12 and 13)

Blackburn was allowed to walk, and was Jason Williams, We drafted 2 linebackers in Shaq Thompson (will fill the void from Blackburn) David Mayo another draft pick from the 15 draft class should fill in for Williams.Adarius Glanton who was acquired midseason last year may beat out Jacobs this time. 2 other Jouneymen in Kevin Riddick and Jason Trusnik will also compete for the final spot as well.

DEFENSIVE BACKS (9): Decoud, Harper, Melvin White , Cason , Godfrey, Colin Jones , Norman ,Benwikere , Boston. This group saw a lot changes. Gone are Decoud, Cason, and Godfrey. We did not draft a single secondary player but did pick up Charles Tillman in free agency. Robert Lester was waived before the final cuts last year but did sign back on with the team later in the year. I am hoping he can be bigger factor this year. Other players who are competing for a spot here include, free agent acquisition Chris Houston (shortest of the bunch at 5'10) Carrington Byndom(practice squad carryover), Garry Peters(undrafted free agent), Teddy Williams and Lou Young. Personally I'd like to see Norman, Tillman and Benwikere as our starters at corner, with White as the primary backup. If we keep 9 that leaves 5 for names. Houston has shown flashes and in the past and brings veteran presence so he should factor in somewhere at corner. Then there's 6 players competing for the 4 safety spots. Harper, Boston, Jones, and Lester appear to be the favorites with newcomers, Kurt Coleman and Marcus Ball rounding out the group competing. I am not a big fan of Harper starting anymore(too slow)so hopefully Lester or Jones can beat him out at SS. Tre Boston seems like the man for the FS spot.

SPECIALISTS (3): Gano, Nortman, Jansnen.I see no reason for this to change and nor does the front office as no competition has been added at this point.

Hottest training camp battles imo are at: 5th receiver spot behind, Benjamin, Funchess, Brown, and Ginn. Biggest names competing there is Cotchery, Bersin, Hill and Boykin. Starting LG Belonged to Amini for the past 2.5 seasons before getting hurt, but Norwell should compete hard with him in camp.Starting RT Nate Chandler started the season there, Rimmers finished with the job. Now you've got Jonathan Martin and rookie Daryl Williams joining the party as well.Starting RDE Someone needs to step up. Addison, Horton, Ealy, Alexander. Who wants it and is going to earn it?Corners Norman is a lock at one corner spot. They like vets in the secondary(See Cason last year and Harper) so I'd imagine Tillman starts opposite of him. Benwikere is fan favorite around here and Houston is another vet but seems better suited for nickel.SS Can someone please step up and move Harper to the bench? Hopefully Lester can figure it out or maybe Jones will earn the spot.

So just in terms of passing Cam leads in Passing yards per attempt ,Completion %, and is averaging a TD pass every 20.8 attempts, where as its taking Brady 26.1 attempts per TD pass. Brady has only done a better job at protecting the ball with 2 less Interceptions.

Then when looking at accuracy % when under pressure (a PFF signature stat that discards WR drops) Cam is ranked 3rd out 31 QB's(50% of snaps played qualifier) at 71.4% and Brady is ranked 27th 56.5% accuracy percentage when under pressure.

One PFF signature stat I was surprised to see is Brady has a 43.2% accuracy percentage vs Cam's career low of 27.2%. (Remember this does not hold drops against the QB).

I have not really been able to watch as many non panther games as years past nor have I kept up with the stats like I normally do so I was surprised to see Cam outplaying Brady as a passer this year (granted he hasn't had the arsenal he's used to in years past).

Bills Over Ravens(Strengthens our SOS and lowers the SOS of the NFC North teams)

Jets over Titans(strengthens our SOS and lowers the SOS of NFC West teams)

Chiefs over Giants(go ahead and bury the Giants and it lowers the entire NFC East SOS)

Steelers over Vikings( Go ahead and bury the Vikings and lowers the entire NFC North SOS)

Bengals over Browns - (Lowers the Lions SOS)

Rams over Niners(lowers the SOS Packers for the only downside is this would strengthen the Cowboys SOS)

Texans over Seahawks (doesn't matter much unless we are in competiton for a number 1 or 2 seed at end of year)

Jags over Colts (This game has no effect on us at all but fug every young QB not named Cam)

General rule of thumb moving forward.

Each NFC south team has 2 unique opponents that can help strengthen or weaken overall SOS.
Here's each teams 2 unique opponents. So when in doubt root for our 2 unique opponents and root against their unique opponents.

Players restructured
Greg Olsen-Shuffled money around and saved 2.4 million for this year's cap but added to later years
Ryan Kalil -Shuffled money around and saved 3.45 million for this year cap but added to later years
Jordan Gross- Saved 6.8 million for this year for this years cap and add's 3.6 in future dead money
Haruki Nakumara- Saved 500k for this year
Jonathan Stewart-minor move that raised cap figure $200k, unsure of why we did this.

combining the restructure savings and the outright cuts = 22.7 million in total savings for 2013 Cap

Dead money committed to 2014 cap from these moves = 5.4 million...this does not include increased future cap figures for Kalil and Olsen from their restructures..didn't feel like looking up the specific's on them.

Estimated current cap room=7.636 million.*not including Edwards and Blackburn signings.
(PFT said we had $936,00 before the Gross Savings of 6.8 million and accounting for the Dwan Edwards and Chase Blackburn signings)

Cap room will also jump 2.8 million after June 1st once James Anderson cut hits the books.

Lastly the Rookie pool for our 13 Rookie class is expected to cost us around 4 million.

First of all here are the best links available to help you understand our cap situation and rules.

http://www.eaglescap...alyzingCBA.html (faq on the rules)

http://www.askthecom...laryCap/faq.asp (another faq on the rules)

http://www.spotrac.c...nthers/cap-hit/ (Our cap hits and access to details on every players contract..Click on specific player's full contract to see future cap hits and signing bonus money still counting against the cap in future years)

Signing bonus- This is guaranteed money players receive as soon as their contract is signed. This money can be and often is spread over the course of a player contracts or up to 6 years. This means they already have the money but the hit against the cap is spread out. If we cut a player we are no longer responsible for their base salary and owe them nothing. The only deterrent to cutting a player with a large signing bonus is we still have to take the hit against the cap of whatever guaranteed money has not already been accounted for against the cap.

Base Salary- This is the yearly money a player will receive if still on the team, this money and their amortized signing bonus, plus any other workout bonus accounts for our total cap hit.

Dead Money- This refers to money that counts against the cap from players who were cut before their signing bonus has been accounted for against the cap.

June 1st cuts- Teams can divide up the remaining dead money or unaccounted for against the cap signing bonus money from players cut over the current year and the next.
*As we did with Wharton last year the new CBA allows for a team to cut up to 2 players before June 1st and still be designated as a June 1st cut, hence allowing a team to spread the hit over 2 years without officially having to wait until June to do so.

March 12th- This is our first deadline to be under the cap(first day of the league year and start of free agency). When we cut down to 53 in September we will have to make sure we are under the cap again.

131.8 Million- This is the amount we are currently have committed to the 2013 cap. The cap is right at 121 Million for 2013.

4,526,462- The amount of the dead money already hitting our cap for 2013. Most of this came from 2 players, Mare(2 Million) and Wharton(1.8 million)

4.5-5 million- The amount our rookie class should roughly count against our cap. (Brockers the 14th overall last year counted 2.164 Million against the rams cap last year, Mychal Kendricks the 46th overall pick last year count just over 1 million against the eagles cap last year thats roughly 3.75 million to our 2 first rounders, plus we'll have a few other picks counting less as well)

Easiest way to calculate for yourself- Go to the spotrac website referenced above. Look at the cap hits and how much renaming signing bonus money we have spread out on each player by clicking on their name. IF you cut that player ignore their base salary and just used the signing bonus money as a cap hit. Choose to spread it out over 1 or 2 years. Keep in mind spreading it out over 2 years can be very helpful but just creates more dead money down the road.

Ways to save without using June 1st rule and piling up dead money for 2014 as well
Cutting Gross would save us 10.7 Million
Cutting Gamble would save us 8.95 million
Cutting Ron Edwards would save us 2.5 million
Cutting Gary Williams would save us 1.125 Million
Cutting Hangartner would save 1.575
Cutting Nakumara would save $967,000

*We could cut other players but if won't save us close to a million no point in fooling with them right now.

**Gross and Gamble should be very easy to restructure as their contracts are almost up and have very little leverage because their remaining signing bonus money to hit the cap is very small(1 Million for Gross and 2 million for Gamble).

Players that would have to be a june 1st cut to save us money this year and by default next year too, but will cause dead money to be on the books in 2014.
Cutting Beason would have an immediate savings of 3.5 million this year and 6.75 million next year.

Cutting Deangleo would have an immediate savings us of 3.4 million in 13 and 4.4 million in 2014. Cutting D-will will also create another 4.6 million in dead money for 2014, because he has a total of 9.6 million in signing bonus scheduled to hit the cap over the next 3 years.

Further reading on Beason situation.
Something has to be done here because not only does he have a large cap hit for 13(9.5 million) it goes up to 10.75 in 2014 and 11.75 in 2015. Since he as has 12 million in signing bonus money scheduled to hit the books over the next 3 years( 4 million a year) if we cut him now it would require an immediate hit of the full 12 million. That is more than his current cap hit of 9.5 million if we keep him. Therefore if were going to cut him it makes more sense to do it as a june 1st cut if looking for the cap relief for this year. However if Gettleman can get us under the cap without making him a june 1st cut 2014 will have a much better outlook as we won't have 6 million in dead money already committed to the books.

Further reading on Deangleo Williams situation.

Cutting D-will will also create another 4.6 million in dead money for 2014, because he has a total of 9.6 million in signing bonus scheduled to hit the cap over the next 3 years. If we can bite the bullet on him for this year and hold of on cutting him next year it would be much more ideal from a fiscal sense. If we cut him next year we can do it before June 1st and still save 2.8 million without carrying over dead money into 2015.

1 other wildcard here would be James Anderson but much like Deangleo if you look at his contract it makes much more sense to wait another year on him.http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/carolina-panthers/james-anderson.

In summary it looks nice and pretty to cut Gamble and Gross but because they have little signing bonus money yet to hit the cap, it provides us a good leverage in negotiating a restructure or small extension. On the flip side someone like Beason who has 12 million in signing bonus money yet to hit our cap has the upper hand on us in regards to not renegotiating if does not want to. I just think much like Wharton, Beason's time is up because we have drafted his much cheaper replacement.

**also something to keep in mind is that Hardy will be a free agent next year and Cam the following year. Both these players are on pace to demand larger contracts so we need to cut back on the trend of doing june 1st cuts and carrying "dead money" over as much as possible to we can retain them.

First of all here are the best links available to help you understand our cap situation and rules.

http://www.eaglescap...alyzingCBA.html (faq on the rules)

http://www.askthecom...laryCap/faq.asp (another faq on the rules)

http://www.spotrac.c...nthers/cap-hit/ (Our cap hits and access to details on every players contract..Click on specific player's full contract to see future cap hits and signing bonus money still counting against the cap in future years)

Signing bonus- This is guaranteed money players receive as soon as their contract is signed. This money can be and often is spread over the course of a player contracts for up to 5 years. This means the player already has the money but the hit against the cap is spread out. If we cut a player we are no longer responsible for their base salary and owe them nothing. The only deterrent to cutting a player with a large signing bonus is we still have to take the hit against the cap of whatever guaranteed money has not already been accounted for against the cap.

Base Salary- This is the yearly money a player will receive if still on the team, this money and their amortized signing bonus, plus any other workout bonus accounts for our total cap hit.

Dead Money- This refers to money that counts against the cap from players who were cut before their signing bonus has been fully accounted for against the cap.

June 1st cuts- Teams can divide up the remaining dead money or unaccounted for against the cap signing bonus money from players cut over the current year and the next.
*As we did with Wharton last year the new CBA allows for a team to cut up to 2 players before June 1st and still be designated as a June 1st cut, hence allowing a team to spread the hit over 2 years without officially having to wait until June to do so.

March 12th- This is our first deadline to be under the cap(first day of the league year and start of free agency). When we cut down to 53 in September we will have to make sure we are under the cap again.

131.8 Million- This is the amount we are currently have committed to the 2013 cap. The cap is right at 121 Million for 2013.

4,526,462- The amount of the dead money already hitting our cap for 2013. Most of this came from 2 players, Mare(2 Million) and Wharton(1.8 million)

4.5-5 million- The amount our rookie class should roughly count against our cap. (Brockers the 14th overall last year counted 2.164 Million against the rams cap last year, Mychal Kendricks the 46th overall pick last year count just over 1 million against the eagles cap last year thats roughly 3.75 million to our 2 first rounders, plus we'll have a few other picks counting less as well)

Easiest way to calculate for yourself- Go to the spotrac website referenced above. Look at the cap hits and how much remaining signing bonus money we have spread out on each player by clicking on their name. IF you cut that player ignore their base salary and just use the signing bonus money as a cap hit. Choose to spread it out over 1 or 2 years. Keep in mind spreading it out over 2 years can be very helpful but just creates more dead money down the road.

Ways to save without using June 1st rule and piling up dead money for 2014 as well
Cutting Gross would save us 10.7 Million
Cutting Gamble would save us 8.95 million
Cutting Ron Edwards would save us 2.5 million
Cutting Gary Williams would save us 1.125 Million
Cutting Hangartner would save 1.575
Cutting Nakumara would save $967,000

*We could cut other players but if won't save us close to a million no point in fooling with them right now.

**Gross and Gamble should be very easy to restructure as their contracts are almost up and have very little leverage because their remaining signing bonus money to hit the cap is very small(1 Million for Gross and 2 million for Gamble).

Players that would have to be a june 1st cut to save us money this year and by default next year too, but will cause dead money to be on the books in 2014.
Cutting Beason would have an immediate savings of 3.5 million this year and 6.75 million next year.

Cutting Deangleo would have an immediate savings us of 3.4 million in 13 and 4.4 million in 2014. Cutting D-will will also create another 4.6 million in dead money for 2014, because he has a total of 9.6 million in signing bonus scheduled to hit the cap over the next 3 years.

Further reading on Beason situation.
Something has to be done here because not only does he have a large cap hit for 13(9.5 million) it goes up to 10.75 in 2014 and 11.75 in 2015. Since he has 12 million in signing bonus money scheduled to hit the books over the next 3 years( 4 million a year) if we cut him now it would require an immediate hit of the full 12 million. That is more than his current cap hit of 9.5 million if we keep him. Therefore if were going to cut him it makes more sense to do it as a june 1st cut if looking for the cap relief for this year. However if Gettleman can get us under the cap without making him a june 1st cut 2014 will have a much better outlook as we won't have 6 million in dead money already committed to the books.

Further reading on Deangleo Williams situation.

Cutting D-will will also create another 4.6 million in dead money for 2014, because he has a total of 9.6 million in signing bonus scheduled to hit the cap over the next 3 years. If we can bite the bullet on him for this year and hold off on cutting him until next year it would be much more ideal from a fiscal sense. If we cut him next year we can do it before June 1st and still save 2.8 million without carrying over dead money into 2015.

1 other wildcard here would be James Anderson but much like Deangleo if you look at his contract it makes much more sense to wait another year on him .http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/carolina-panthers/james-anderson.

In summary it looks nice and pretty to cut Gamble and Gross but because they have little signing bonus money yet to hit the cap, it provides us a good leverage in negotiating a restructure or small extension. On the flip side someone like Beason who has 12 million in signing bonus money yet to hit our cap has the upper hand on us in regards to not renegotiating if does not want to. I just think much like Wharton, Beason's time is up because we have drafted his much cheaper replacement.

**also something to keep in mind is that Hardy will be a free agent next year and Cam the following year. Both these players are on pace to demand larger contracts so we need to cut back on the trend of doing june 1st cuts and carrying "dead money" over as much as possible so we can retain them.

http://profootballta...d-of-the-curve/
Veteran NFL players often feel threatened by rookies, particularly when they’re high draft picks and play the same position. Among vets, there’s frequently a sense that youngsters are there to steal their jobs.
In Carolina, Jon Beason has come to grips with first-round pick Luke Kuechly’s addition to the Panthers’ linebacker corps, and is taking a more optimistic outlook on the rookie.
“I don’t know how it’s all going to unfold, but I understand the draft pick,” Beason told the Associated Press. “I understand the kid was off the charts. So you draft him and it makes your football team better.”
Beason says Kuechly is coming along quickly.
“Oh, he’s great,” Beason said. “A good young kid and very, very instinctive. Wants to get better. Knows how to prepare. Stays late. He’s a good kid and he’s going to be a great player. … He’s way ahead of the curve for rookies just in terms of his football IQ and how he prepares. He’s going to be successful right away.”